Read more about the article Three ways to really benefit from your 360 degree feedback report
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Three ways to really benefit from your 360 degree feedback report

So you have participated in a 360 degree survey on your leadership skills, several people who know you well have rated your skills and you are ready to receive the feedback.

Well, are you? Ready, that is?

Maybe you’ve had feedback before and you know the drill. You’re going to sit down with a feedback coach and go over the results in your 360 report. Which of the following describes what you are feeling right now?

  • “Hopefully there won’t be any surprises and I can get back to work.”
  • “I need to find something to work on in time for my review with my manager.”
  • “I’m intrigued to know if people think I have done well building my team”.

Whatever your thoughts about 360 or your level of motivation to receive and act on feedback, there are career-building opportunities in your report. You just have to find them!

Look for Key Themes

What trends are you seeing in the data? Do people see you stronger strategically or operationally? How’s your ability to motivate others? Is there a perception you step up to conflict or shy away from it?

  • Look at the pattern of scores. Understandably, higher scores concentrated on a few skills will be evident for a linear career in one discipline, whereas a broader spread will result from a variety of diverse jobs and assignments.
  • Pay special attention to the highest rated items, say your top five or six. They sum up your ‘personal brand’ and are vitally important. Having the right strengths will open doors for you to new opportunities.

What do these themes say about your performance in your current role and the implications for your next move or future career?

Are you seen the way you want to be seen? What do you need to address to get you from here to where you want to be?

Read the Data

Quantitative data, in the form of actual skill ratings, are very useful. It’s always good to see the numbers! You can compare the highs and lows and see how people view your relative strengths and weaknesses.

High ratings across the board are a good endorsement of your overall ability. If, on the other hand, you have some very low ratings, people are sending a clear message that they want more from you. Don’t ignore them!

Qualitative data in the form of written comments are invaluable. If people acknowledge your strengths and suggest ways in which you could improve, it adds real depth to the feedback.

If this option is available in your 360 survey tool, make a point of asking raters to add comments when you invite them to participate in rating you.

Seek Out Differences

Some differences in the way others see you are to be expected. After all, your raters interact with you in different situations and each one brings their own opinion and perspective. If you have significant variations though, consider why.

First, look for the gaps between your ratings and those of others. This is the real biggie! Do you see yourself the way others do? If there are significant gaps, you could be at risk of seriously over or underestimating your ability.

  • Our 360 database tells us that most people have 3 or 4 blind spots – skills where they rate themselves higher than others do. What matters here is the size of the gap, the smaller the better.
  • On the other hand, hidden strengths are skills others rate higher than you. It can be a nice surprise to know what people value about what you do, especially if they’ve never told you!

Next, look for gaps between your raters or rater groups. Where they exist, explore the reasons.

  • Maybe you show different faces to different people, consciously or not. If people believe you favour some team members over others, think of the implications for your reputation as a leader.
  • If you have big gaps in perception within a group of raters, say your direct reports, think about what you need to do about it.

360 feedback is an excellent way of road-testing your level of your self-awareness.

Lack of self-awareness will inevitably hold you back or could even stall your career. It will certainly limit your ability to coach and develop others, lowering your effectiveness as a leader.

Final Words

Over the last decade we have observed that 360 feedback can have a very powerful impact on people. For some it’s confirmation that they are on the right path, with only a few tweaks needed in their management style.

For others it’s a game changer that offers a roadmap to make real improvements in performance or job prospects, or even rescue difficult relationships with other people.

We like to see 360 feedback as a GPS system for a person’s career. Used properly it will help you reach your destination. Even if it does occasionally tell you to perform a U-Turn at the next opportunity!

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Read more about the article Three ways to upskill your team to achieve better results
Upskill your team

Three ways to upskill your team to achieve better results

It’s clear that today’s organisations need teams of people with diverse skills and the ability to adapt to new challenges swiftly. Easy to say, but the challenges are many!

The post-pandemic landscape has revolutionised our lives with remote work and digital communication, making effective teamwork more challenging. In addition, business transformation in response to ongoing change has a flow-on effect by requiring some teams to restructure or reform with new members.

Take a moment to assess your team’s performance. Are you flourishing or simply surviving in this new era?

Regardless of your response, nurturing your team to achieve optimum effectiveness is crucial for your organisation’s future. Therefore, it’s essential to find a way to equip the team with the necessary skills to tackle emerging challenges and capitalise on opportunities.

To bolster your team members’ skills for improved results, consider these three ways to upskill your team:

1. Embrace Your Talent

Developing a cohesive team requires a mutual understanding of individual strengths and weaknesses. The starting point to recognising the capabilities of others is an accurate appreciation of your own. However, true self-awareness may not be as common as you think. Many people believe they are self-aware, but studies have shown that only a small percentage are!

Team leaders can take the lead by exploring their capabilities and impact on others. By sharing their insights with the team, they can establish a safe and supportive atmosphere for members to discuss their skills and areas they need to develop openly.

Done well, this gives insight into the team’s collective capability to deliver results and nurtures the positive energy found in high-performing teams. We are fortunate to have seen many times how a deep understanding of team talent sets the stage for dynamic teamwork and better outcomes.

Tips:

  • Choose an assessment to help team members understand where they stand now on the skills that matter most for being effective in their roles. Whether you use a psychometric evaluation or 360-degree feedback, ensure the content is relevant to workplace behaviours and performance.
  • Invite individuals to present an overview of their results to the team so that they can support and encourage each other for personal development. Dedicate time during regular meetings or arrange a facilitated session to strengthen team competency.

2. Foster Collaboration

Well-planned collaboration with stakeholders is crucial for a team’s success because it promotes engagement and a commitment to achieving outcomes. Importantly, it allows teams to gather essential information from stakeholders to deliver excellent value to them.

One challenging aspect of collaboration is comprehending stakeholders’ diverse and occasionally conflicting interests. By recognising these concerns and priorities, teams can tailor their strategies for connecting with each stakeholder group.

Using collaborative language creates a strong foundation for meaningful relationships. Phrases such as “What’s your view on this?” and “Let’s work together to find a solution” exhibit a willingness to consider various perspectives, cultivating a sense of partnership.

Tips:

  • As a team, create or revisit a list of your key stakeholders, including individuals and groups. Progressively contact them to review what they need from you (and what you need from them). Gather specifics, ensuring you don’t make assumptions, to establish a plan to deliver what they require.
  • Implement an agreed approach and schedule for team communication with stakeholders. Random check-ins can be helpful at times but would generally be unnecessary. Instead, establish goals, provide regular updates, and track progress as key elements of effective stakeholder management.

3. Maintain Focus

Is your team grappling with increasing demands on their time and expertise? Unfortunately, it’s easy to get caught up in urgent tasks and run out of time for what truly matters.

To address this, establish a clear mission for the team and allocate dedicated time for priority work. In addition, eliminate distractions by ensuring meetings serve a specific objective and only involve essential participants. Doing this will maximise efficiency and keep the focus on the mission.

However, enhancing team productivity goes beyond efficiency – it’s also about cultivating positive team dynamics. By identifying challenges that call for joint resolutions, team leaders create an environment where members feel valued and are empowered to contribute their unique skills toward a shared goal.

Tips:

  • Invite your team members to review their schedule of meetings to determine which they need to attend personally and which they could delegate to someone in their team who would benefit and learn from the experience.
  • Strengthen team dynamics by identifying a challenge that impacts every team member and help them to work together to find the best solution and draft a project plan to achieve a successful outcome. Then, when they have implemented their solution, celebrate success, and move on to the next challenge!
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Read more about the article Three agile leader practices that drive superior business performance
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Three agile leader practices that drive superior business performance

In my last post, I described four competencies that differentiate leaders who are highly effective in transforming their organisations in response to significant change.

Identified in a research study at the Global Center for Digital Business Transformation, the HAVE competencies (Humility, Adaptability, Visionary and Engaged) are signature skills of agile leaders.

The study also found three behavioural practices that shape the impact agile leaders have on the way their organisations deliver results in disruptive business environments.

In combination with the competencies, these practices reinforce the openness and responsiveness that leaders and their organisations need to thrive.

Hyperawareness

Hyperawareness, the first practice, refers to constantly scanning the internal and external environment for opportunities or threats to the business and using multiple lenses to view what needs to be addressed.

Hyperaware leaders stay up to date with industry movements and detect new trends as they emerge. With a wide-screen view of the world, they look for new insights into how their organisation should position itself in the market. They are ready to guide others through a strong vision for the future.

Reflection Question: Do you have a good balance between expanding your perspective on the big picture and getting things done?

Informed decision making

The second practice is about using information to make evidence-based decisions. It has three components, well-directed information gathering, practical analysis and informed judgment. Each one is critical in moving an organisation forward in uncertain times.

However, leaders may sometimes lack sufficient data and information and must draw on experience and intuition. Whilst some may enjoy exercising personal expertise, there is a risk that they may miss creative solutions and create a ‘good enough’ culture in their organisation.

Reflection Question: What is your preferred decision-making approach, getting the facts or using your intuition? What impact does this have on your leadership style?

Fast execution

The willingness to act quickly completes the trio of practices; the positive impacts of hyperawareness and informed decision-making are magnified if leaders emphasise fast execution.

A survey by McKinsey reported that the need for speed is paramount for organisations responding to market changes in the post-covid era, with many leaders rating speed more important than reducing costs, increasing productivity, or engaging more effectively with customers.

Despite this, many things get in the way, such as behavioural norms, organisational silos, and lack of strategic clarity. Agile leaders focus on removing barriers by devolving responsibility and simultaneously encouraging autonomy.

Reflection question: Have you allowed processes or obstacles to get in the way of getting things done? What could you do differently to focus your people on achieving a goal?

Summary

In the Agile Leader model of four competencies and three practices, we have a powerful package of skills to drive business results and sustainability. For example, we recently helped a senior leadership team analyse their capability against the Agile Leader and the results clearly illustrated how and why the team became ‘stuck’ in resolving some of the problems they faced.

This information gives team members deep insight into their collective strengths and weaknesses from which they can develop an action plan to leverage the capabilities of all to achieve their business strategy and goals.

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